Our Team

Angie Quaale

Angie Quaale has been working in food and hospitality for all of her working life. Working for several years in hotels & fine dining lead Angie to a career in commercial food sales specializing in menu development and retail food distribution. The definite need for a gourmet shop in the Fraser Valley encouraged Angie to open Well Seasoned in 2004 and now they carry thousands of products from around the world and most importantly from right here in our backyard. Well Seasoned is thrilled to celebrate the bounty of BC – we proudly support local artisan food producers and offer their wares for sale here.

Angie is the Past President of the BC chapter of Les Dames d’Escoffier, a Past-Board Member of the Pacific Northwest BBQ Association and is the Past President of the Greater Langley Chamber of Commerce.  She is the Past Chair of Tourism Langley, Past-Chair & a founding board member of the Langley Community Farmers Market. Most recently, Angie was incredibly honoured to be awarded the very prestigious, George Preston Memorial Business Person of the Year Award by the Greater Langley Chamber of Commerce. She has also been recognized by Women’s Enterprise Centre as one of BC’s 100 New Pioneer Women Entrepreneurs 2008.  In 2006 Angie was recognized by the Greater Langley Chamber of Commerce as the Entrepreneur of the Year and in 2007 as the Small Business of the Year. Angie LOVES the work she has the opportunity to do every day and the fantastic people she gets to do it with. Angie is a proud, Elected Councillor in the Township of Langley. If you're looking to connect with Angie, please visit her Facebook page.

For more information about Angie, visit her profile page.

Nicki McCulloch, Store Manager

Nicki is thrilled to be returning to the food industry once again! Her great love – food! Coming from a long line of food enthusiasts and entertainers. “My mom made fantastic food everyday……she was a business owner, 4-H leader, mother of 3 girls , managed a 10 acre farm in Langley and could execute a beef Wellington on a Wednesday. She made it all look so easy.” Nicki’s dad was the publisher of numerous newspapers and the perpetual entertainer. ” The moment you walked into our home you were made to feel special. The partnership of my parents was a match made in heaven.” Continuing the family tradition Nicki loves making every moment special for her 3 nearly grown children, husband Gord of nearly 27 years and dear dog Zara. Numerous friends and family with diet challenges encourages Nicki to create adventurous menus . Vegetarian, vegan, pescatarian, gluten free, diary intolerant, paleo “Bring it on!” When not in the kitchen Nicki may be in the outdoors, visiting farmers markets , yoga studio, traveling, or enjoying an independent film. A long time supporter of “Shot in the Dark” . A local non profit organization dedicated in showing Canadian and foreign language films in the Langley community where she has lived for over 30 years. Nicki loves to share her love of food and life.

Michele Vanderzwan

As a constant victim of unsolicited house guests, Michele is always on the lookout for new recipe and entertainment ideas. Her dream of owning a hobby farm came true a few years ago and she takes pride in serving homegrown when she can. The need for new and interesting meal ideas brought her to Well Seasoned. The overwhelming variety of gourmet food products and supplies intrigued the caterer in her even further. She had to be a part of this place! Michele became a regular attending a multitude of classes which lead her to become a kitchen assistant to so many local and celebrity chefs, and a PNWBA judge. She enjoys getting to share recipes and inspirations with other like minded foodies.

Joanne Schmietenknop

Joanne was born and raised in Ontario. After graduating University and teaching abroad, she settled in Vancouver. Working in the hospitality industry sparked an interest in everything food..and wine! She enjoys entertaining, trying new recipes and cooking techniques and has a passion for baking and decorating. After starting a family, Joanne, her husband and 1st son moved to Langley and are proud to call this place home. As regular customers with a great appreciation for all of the unique ingredients and 'foodie' treats Well Seasoned has to offer, she was thrilled to later become a part of the WS team!

Tim Charles

Tim is a self proclaimed foodie and has been looking for opportunities to expand his culinary knowledge. His day job as a writer producer for a radio morning show in Vancouver ends at 10:00 am and after watching Judge Judy and Dr. Phill is left looking for something to fill the rest of his day. He jumped at an opportunity to join the Well Seasoned team and with the knowledge of the staff has come a long way in the cooking arena. On his time off he can also be found at one of many comedy clubs doing/attempting stand up comedy and has incorporated some of his new food knowledge into his act because nothing makes people laugh harder than a good Arugula joke!

Kristi Ralph

Cooking, baking and creating in the kitchen has always been a fun venture, so when the opportunity came to work at Well Seasoned, Kristi went for it. Coming from a long term office environment this has been a refreshing change. Great co-workers and enthusiastic customers make each work day interesting.

Pat Rachel

Having been in the retail industry for the past 24 years, Pat is very happy sharing her years of experience with the awesome team of Well Seasoned. When she's not working she loves to bake, read, go on adventures with her friends and spend time with her family.

"They say you can’t teach an old dog new tricks, but boy, I’ve learned a lot of cooking and baking techniques from our fantastic chefs as well as gourmet food knowledge from the amazing store team." - Pat.

Robyn Brett

Robyn is a Culinary Tinkerer with two young boys and a cool husband!

Some of the things that keep her busy are: Reading books, Family and the Company of great friends, Enjoying Local wine and food (from her backyard garden whenever possible!), Lake floating, Sky gazing, Campfires, Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner!

After her children were old enough to make their own sandwiches, she returned to work part time. Robyn joined the kind and amazing people who make up the Well Seasoned team to get a little closer to some of the things she enjoys so much.

Renee Blackstone

Renee spent nearly 20 years as Food and Lifestyles Editor at The Province newspaper before taking early retirement in 2008. She now spends most of her time looking after an ever-expanding number of flower beds and vegetable gardens on her two Langley acres where she also tends a small flock of chickens. She continues to write freelance articles for various clients and also has a blog, accidentalfoodie.wordpress.com, which covers all things food-related, including cookbook reviews, travels and gardening. But writing can be a lonely profession, and chickens aren't the best conversationalists, so Renee happily joined the WS team as one of the best ways to stay connected with the food world. She works mostly as a cooking-class assistant. The many chefs she's had the opportunity to work with continue to inspire her love of great food, she says.

David Gassaway, BBQ Expert

David is a BBQ junkie, a part-time Canadian and online niche market expert specializing in everything from auto parts to custom BBQ accessories (random?  Yes, we know – it’s part of his charm). Born and raised in Arkansas, David knows good BBQ and how it’s made.  David started competing in sanctioned BBQ competitions after taking a PNWBA cooking class in 2009. With his teammate Greg Dulin in 2010 as the Smokin’ Hot Grillfriends they were invited to represent the state of Montana and compete at both the Jack Daniels World Invitational BBQ Championships and the American Royal. David & Greg found great success cooking on the UDS (ugly drum smokers) that David built but he is now on a mission to master the WSM’s, Primo’s, Traeger’s and even a Jr. Komado Joe – he’s living the BBQ dream but needs to find more time to actually cook!

David is a past board member of the PNWBA and spends his time helping to teach classes, organizing BBQ competitions, competing and most importantly sourcing new products for CanadaQ and Well Seasoned.  He takes a tremendous amount of joy in watching new teams get their first call, he is a great BBQ ambassador and wants to help you get the most out of the BBQ products you purchase at Well Seasoned.

Kay Slater, Creative Director

Kay has been associated with the Well Seasoned Gourmet Food Store brand on and off for the past 12 years and is proud to be part of the team as Creative Director. Kay has worked to produce a consistent brand presence for Well Seasoned both online and off and has used their extensive retail marketing background and fine arts education to blend functionality and form for this gourmet brand. If you find anything wrong or have an issue with your online experience on any of the Well Seasoned sites or social platforms, please contact creative@wellseasoned.ca and Kay will get right on it!

Kay is the resident nerd, is hard-of-hearing, vegetarian and proud of it. Kay works as an illustrator and gallery preparator in multiple Vancouver galleries when not drooling over Well Seasoned's selection of quinoa. https://ca.linkedin.com/in/kslater